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Reno sues Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/4076123.htmhttp://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/4076123.htm
Posted on Sat, Sep. 14, 2002
Reno's camp may sue over touch screens used in Florida primary
BY PETER WALLSTEN AND LESLEY CLARK
Knight Ridder Newspapers
MIAMI - (KRT) - Janet Reno's campaign for governor is trying to build a sweeping case against the now-infamous touch-screen voting machines that campaign officials believe may be responsible for Reno losing the Democratic nomination.
The case, summarized in a draft document obtained by The Herald, would not be used to challenge the results of last week's election, even if Bill McBride is certified Tuesday as the nominee, campaign officials said Saturday.
Instead, the evidence would become part of a larger effort to put the blame for Florida's latest election fiasco at the feet of Gov. Jeb Bush and the election reform law he signed with great fanfare last year.
"What we're doing is far more important than whoever the nominee is," said Reno campaign manager Mo Elleithee.
According to the draft document, headlined "Suspected Problems with Florida's Electronic Touch-Screen Voting Machines," the campaign has consulted with an expert who has studied the machines in use.
Among the allegations: touch-screen machines suffer from the buildup of smudges as more people vote that create inaccuracies, some voters saw the wrong candidate's name light up when they touched the screen, many machines may not have properly calculated votes, and some machines had more than the typical percentage of ballots without a vote in a governor's race.
Election Systems and Software, the company that manufactures the iVotronic machines used in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, could not be reached late Saturday. Last week, ES&S said in a statement that its machines "accurately captured 100 percent of the votes which were cast. No votes were lost or not counted."
Eleven counties in Florida that used the iVotronic equipment Tuesday, but only Miami-Dade and Broward had serious problems. The election supervisors in the four counties that systems identical to those in Miami-Dade and Broward told The Herald that their elections went smoothly.
Reno's staff also is collecting affidavits from voters who either had trouble voting or who were turned away from polls that opened late or closed early. Those affidavits will be used later, as well, campaign officials said.
Despite their look ahead to November, campaign officials still made it clear Saturday they have not given up their hope of a Reno victory in the primary.
Miami-Dade elections officials continued to examine voting machines from precincts where hundreds and perhaps thousands of votes were not counted.
Reno strategists hope that Broward officials will soon begin the same review. Together, the campaign believes, the two counties may contain enough uncounted votes to close McBride's 8,100-vote lead.
McBride, meanwhile, is intent on putting the primary behind him, rallying nearly 200 members of the state teachers union in Orlando Saturday and telling reporters that he would spend the weekend at his rural Tampa home, mulling over his selection of a running mate and organizing his campaign staff.
"What we can't do as Democrats is to have this diversion keep us from what is really important, that is, electing a new governor," said McBride, who has already begun contacting donors.
"When the certification came, I believed it was time to get along with the election," McBride told the crowd. "But that doesn't mean that I and you and everyone else doesn't have a stake in making sure that things are worked out in a way where everyone feels comfortable so that we can move forward."
Nevertheless, the Reno and McBride campaigns continued on far different tracks Saturday.
Reno's lawyers said they have not ruled out a lawsuit against the state canvassing board, which on Friday rejected their request for a statewide manual recount.
The evidence being gathered about voting machines would not be a part of that challenge, strategists said.
But the strategy of making election reform an issue to use against Bush - specifically targeting the voting equipment - is designed to remind loyal Democrats of their frustration after the contested 2000 presidential election in which Bush's brother narrowly won the White House.
By raising a challenge with similar themes - "smudge buildup" and "inadequate calibration" replaces "chad buildup" and the "hanging chad" - Democrats could win some points.
And Reno, who is under some pressure to not undermine the Democratic nominee, could use the issue the stump for McBride should he emerge the winner.
Both Reno and McBride have accused Bush of failing to ensure that the counties receive proper funding for poll worker training and for signing an election reform law that set loose standards on voting equipment.
"The governor is trying to pass the buck and blame two counties for a problem that he helped create," said Elleithee.
Bush has been adamant that the blame for last week's problems lies with county elections officials, and he is quick to point out that both counties are controlled by Democrats.
He has noted that only Miami-Dade and Broward had problems.
While the Reno campaign collects evidence about voting irregularities, McBride has come under criticism from some in his party who worry that his eagerness to move beyond the primary might alienate Reno backers who fear their votes did not matter.
Speaking Saturday, McBride told supporters that he did not want anyone to accuse him of winning an election that he did not deserve.
"We've had those problems before where people appeared to be trying to take something they didn't deserve," he said. "I'm not like that."
McBride told reporters he's confident he'll still be the nominee even after the votes are counted in Miami-Dade.
"We've got to make sure that everyone feels comfortable that in a democracy they were able to cast their votes, that someone cared enough to respect it, to make sure they were counted," McBride said.
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(Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondent Scott Andron, Steve Harrison and Phil Long contributed to this report.)
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© 2002, The Miami Herald.
Visit The Miami Herald Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.herald.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services
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